Holding On
by candyazngirl
Summary: Sequel to A New Life. After dealing with the ordeal with Zorc, Bakura is stuck in a 4-year-old body, sharing it with Akefia, who has a mind of a child. He is forced to live with Ryou. Truthfully, everything wasn't too bad until Yugi and Marik invaded their privacy... Rated for: Tendershipping, Bronzeshipping, Puzzleshipping.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here is the sequel. Sorry if it's late. I was sucked into reading fanfiction. I'm sure you guys know how that goes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh and this fanfic is purely for entertainment.**

**Warning: Tendershipping, Puzzleshipping, and Bronzeshippinrg. Nothing serious will be going on, but some people would still be against these. Also, please read A New Life if you haven't. Though I will try to make this sequel understandable on its own, it's still helpful.**

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Chapter 01

It's been months since Bakura has been living in a 3-year-old body with a soul that has been split from his own, and been going by the name of Akefia. Well, that sentence would be wrong, since they were now technically in a 4-year-old body. The first couple of months were hectic, as Akefia was a lot better than Ryou when it came to reclaiming the control of his body. Eventually, though, Bakura found the days monotonous and boring, as there was a lack of impending doom that he was used to when he was in the Monster World game against Zorc.

"Bakura! Kefie! Come down for dinner!" a voice called from the kitchen. Akefia had went down excitedly.

It was obviously his ex-host, Ryou, who had called for them. Bakura had to live with him, because Akefia wouldn't want to willingly move away from someone that he considered being his older brother. That notion was simply ridiculous that the boy would think of Ryou as his older brother, for in the terms of soul, they were at least 5000 years older than him. However, Ryou fed them and bathed them, along with taking care of things such the cleaning and bills. He was also reluctant to yell at Bakura for anything, because he didn't want to hurt Akefia's feelings.

Being stuck in this body wasn't bad at all.

Ryou did force Bakura to attend school, but they were doing simple things like coloring and drawing. Bakura would often let Akefia do whatever he wanted during this time, as he didn't feel like putting up with drooling children. There was a moment where an arrogant child wanted to take something from Akefia though, and Bakura took the time to scare him away. He didn't like the hair-splitting crying from Kefie. It was bad enough that he had to hear it whenever the kid would have nightmares about Kul Elna.

"So how was school," Ryou asked as he served the rice dish in front of them. "I made Bakura's favorite tonight, which is a nice beef bowl, but you like beef anyway right Kefie?"

"I do!" Akefia cheered as he bit into the juicy meat and ate spoonfuls of rice. "Today, Kura scared away the other kids from me."

"Really, again?" Ryou asked with a frown. "Are you really okay with him doing that? You might not make any friends at this rate, because of him."

"I'm fine," Kefie said with a nod as he continued to eat. There was a shift in control as the other was almost done with the dinner. Bakura ate the beef hungrily and noisily. He looked at Ryou with his sharp eyes and frowned.

"It's not like you had friends when you were younger," Bakura said as he shoved more food into his mouth. Ryou almost warned the other that he should eat slower or else he'll choke, but before he managed to open his mouth, the other was done eating.

"Yes, but I wanted him to have a normal life," Ryou said as he picked up the bowls and put it in the sink for him to clean at a later time. Bakura scoffed at the idea.

"A normal life? While you're friends with that psychopath, the pharaoh, a kid that is obsessed with card games, and that strange boy that shows off his midriff? I doubt he'll get a normal life like that," Bakura said as he crossed his arms. "Bloody hell, the sheer fact that I'm still alive inside of his body is going to make sure that the boy doesn't grow up normally."

"You don't have to say those things about them," Ryou protested, even though he agreed with Bakura that they were not the normal sort of people in the slightest. "They helped you get your revenge, didn't they?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that I'll try and be nice to any of them," Bakura said.

"Could you at least not say it in front of them when they come over?" Ryou asked as he looked at his college homework. It was simple enough. There was truly no point in doing homework when the teacher doesn't check it, but Ryou needed something to keep him busy sometimes. "I don't want Malik try to stab you with a kitchen knife or have Yugi be depressed all night."

"They're coming over?" Akefia asked, taking over easily. He jumped up and down in excitement. He enjoyed spending time with Malik, who he called Mama, and Yami, which was deemed to be Yummy. "Are we going to play games?"

"If you want to," Ryou said sweetly. "You have to take a bath though. You made a mess of your clothes. I'll get you something nice to wear."

"When you say nice…" Bakura said, trailing off. "Do you mean my black leather coat?"

"If you want, but I think it makes you look silly when you're this short," the other said as he went into the closet where he stored the little boy's clothes. Bakura pouted, not that he would admit that he made such a face, and went over to the bathroom. He started the water and poured something to make the bubbles. Akefia enjoyed these bubble baths, while Bakura just like feeling the hot water submerge most of his tiny body.

Ryou just got the clothes for the other when the door bell rang loudly. He went over to the door, expecting the others to be waiting on the other side, but it was just Marik. He was fuming with anger and slightly emotional-looking. Scratch the word slightly from that sentence. He looked very emotional. He stomped his way over to the couch and sat down. He hugged the couch pillow so tightly that, if it was a human, it would have broken the spine.

"What's wrong? Where's Malik?" Ryou asked as he closed the door. "Actually, where is Yugi and Yami?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Marik said as he took the remote and flipped through the channels like it was his house. Ryou was slightly bothered with that, but the other did come over pretty often. "That frigging, cheating bastard wouldn't dare come after me after I threw those things at his head. Actually, he might be dead."

"What?" Ryou said, slightly worried. He didn't want his friend to go to jail for killing someone. He was surprised that Malik didn't go to jail yet when he obviously hurt a lot of people.

"I'm joking," Marik said. "He wouldn't die that easily. You know how tough he is. Besides, it was only a bottle this time."

The other had been going out with his counterpart for some time now. After the ritual that granted the Yamis separate bodies from each other, there were loads of complications. There was the denial, especially in Marik's case, and violence. It was surprising for Ryou to hear that Yami actually wasn't the sweetest guy to be around, because he didn't work a single day in his life, so he was a more lazy type of boyfriend for Yugi. Ryou chose to ignore the small little bumps in their strange relationship. He's been through so many things that he just thought that he could handle with his friends being gay and their strange relationships.

"This time?" Ryou asked. "What did you throw at him last time?"

"A duel disk, a Millennium Rod," Marik said, listing them from the top of his head. There were several other things that should not be thrown at another human being, but Marik was right. Malik was hard to kill. "And one time I threw my sister's hair dryer at him. She didn't like that, but she already had another one, because she predicted that this would happen. Sometimes, I wish she would tell me, but she said that would only make things worse."

"Well, you never listened to her before," the other said. "She did want you to return to Egypt and continue your life as a tomb keeper, and you're here right now, next to me, studying in Domino City."

"Well, it's hard to be a tomb keeper if there's nothing to protect," Marik complained. "The Millennium Items are not there and I don't want to live underground anymore. Why do you think I share an apartment with Malik? It's not just because my sister thought it would be easier for her to stay at whenever she brings over a new exhibit to Domino City."

"You have a point," Ryou said, smiling that Marik was not as angry as he came in. He thought it would be safe to ask the other what his darker side has done. "So, tell me, what did Malik do now?"

"He winked at a girl," Marik said as he glared at the nearest object that reminded him of the other. "He whistled and winked at a girl with a huge chest that could match the breasts of that chick from Battle City tournament. What was her name? The blond one?"

"Mai Valentine?" Ryou asked as he tried to think. There were not many girls that played the card game in public tournaments, but since it was so long ago, his memory was a bit blurry. Also, he didn't even remember half of the tournament, as Bakura was in control most of the time.

"Yeah her! I knew he has a thing for chicks with big boobs," the other said as he crushed the pillow with his arms again. "I bet he wouldn't look away from me if I had a chest like that."

"Marik, you're a boy," Ryou said with a sweat drop. He had experienced this before. Marik would often get angry and spout out things that wouldn't make sense at all. It was like how he was convinced that Yugi, or rather the Pharaoh, murdered his father when they were countries away from Egypt. They didn't make much sense. "You can't even hope to have a chest that big, and besides, if he really liked girls like that, then he wouldn't be going out with you."

"That's what I keep telling myself, but he keeps doing it and it gets on my nerves!" Marik complained. He looked around, hoping to find Akefia. He liked to poke those squishy cheeks to relieve himself of reality at times. "Where's Kefie?"

"Kefie?" Ryou asked. "Oh, he's in the bath right now."

"Alone? What if he drowns?" Marik asked, frowning at the other. "Or worse, what if Bakura is plotting something evil in there? The fluffy, little guy seems hell-bent on sending either Malik or Yami's soul to the Shadow Realm, even though he had said he had forgiven them!"

"You know, if he heard you say that, he'd try to send you to the Shadow Realm too," Ryou said, shaking his head.

"I'm not afraid of him!"

Ryou sighed and the door bell rang yet again. He assumed that Yami was on the other end, and opened the door with a smile, only to be greeted with a crying Yugi. The other had hugged him and sobbed loudly. It wasn't often that Ryou would see the other cry. He remembered that back in high school, Yugi would cry whenever he was bullied. Ryou wasn't friends with him yet, but he remembered that he had the urge to comfort the other.

Ryou pulled the other inside and closed the door. He sat him on the couch, right next to Marik, who seemed to be still angry. The Egyptian had turned off his phone after getting a call, most likely from Malik, and set the phone on the coffee table.

"Yugi, what's wrong?" Ryou asked, as he looked at the other who took a pillow to sob into. He made a mental note to wash that pillow when the other was done with the crying. "You can tell us."

"Th-the Pharaoh…he forgot our anniversary," Yugi said. "I mean, I was okay with him forgetting, but he was being so mean to me when I was trying to do something special for him. He just shoved me off and continued to talk to Seto about their next rematch."

Bakura had come out of the bathroom in only a towel covering his small body. He was wondering where the clothes that were promised to him had gone and was shivering slightly from the cold. Ryou looked at the other and remembered about the clothes. He handed the other the fabric and apologized.

"What were you even doing?" Bakura asked in a growl, which wasn't really that menacing, considering that his voice was high pitched due to the body.

"I was cold!" Akefia said as he took over. He put on the clothes quickly, but still shivered as his wet hair clung to places like his neck. "Is Yummy and Mama here yet?"

"No, they are not," Ryou said. "Right now Yugi and Marik here though. They had a big fight with Yami and Malik, so those two won't be coming over."

Akefia looked down and picked up the wet towel. He looked sad and betrayed, like he was a puppy that was just kicked after being fed a treat. Ryou frowned and hugged the other.

"We can play a game with you," Ryou said with a nod. "Maybe some video games? That would be fun, right?"

"Okay…"

Bakura took over afterwards, twisting the sad face into an annoyed one.

"What are those two doing here, and why are they crying?" Bakura asked, crossing his arms. He knew that he had to suffer with the company of the others, but he didn't know that it was going to be like this. This annoyed him a lot more than the laughter or the constant poking coming from the Egyptians.

"They are having relationship problems again…" Ryou said, looking over at Yugi. He felt bad for leaving Yugi in the middle of his explanation, but the other seemed to be entertained by Marik's complaints about his counterpart. Truthfully, Ryou thought that they did a better job at comforting each other than he did, because they understand what the other is going through to a point.

"Why are they having relationship problems?!" Bakura shouted. "They were practically trying to have sex in your bathroom last week!"

Ryou didn't want to know why Bakura knew that, or how the others had planned to have sex in his home when they had a perfectly fine bed at their own house.

"This happens a lot," Ryou explained as he sighed. "They might be over here for a while though, so you'll have to sleep in my room tonight, because they will be taking your room."

"Why my room? Can't they just take the couch?"

"Bakura!" the other shouted, insulted by the proposition. He wasn't going to do that to his friends who were going through some trouble and drama. Truthfully, he was annoyed with them, and wished that they wouldn't bother his peaceful life with Bakura. He enjoyed it whenever the others came over for fun, but he enjoyed his privacy as well.

"So Ryou," Marik said, thinking that the other was paying attention to their conversation. "We decided to stay over here until our Yamis get their act together. We might be here for a while, so I told Odion to take our stuff over here."

"You what?" Ryou asked. "How long are you planning to stay again?"

"I don't know," Yugi said. He pouted a little. "Probably through the month. You know that the others are very stubborn."

Ryou sighed deeply and stopped Bakura from protesting. Akefia switched out and looked very happy that there would be more people in the house other than Bakura and Ryou. He enjoyed it when there were more people in the house. He ran over to Marik and Yugi and hugged them tightly. While the small boy was smiling to the point that Ryou knew that Bakura was going to complain about sore cheeks, Ryou thought that maybe it won't be as bad as last time since there was Akefia and Bakura with him.

"I know what we should do, order pizza!" Marik said as he went over to the phone. Ryou hit his head slightly in frustration. It wasn't because he had eaten dinner already, but it was because he knew that the other would ask for him to pay for the meal. Ryou would probably need a second job to feed all of them in this house for the next month, or if it was anything like last time, longer.

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**A/N: Thank you all who read A New Life. I hope you enjoy this story as well. It's pretty last minute, but I worked hard on it so I hoped that the first chapter grabbed you as much as I hoped it did. I seemed to have made a lot of grammar mistakes in this chapter, but I fixed it due to my wonderful Beta!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I forgot to mention that this fanfic will be updated on Fridays weekly. I'm sorry if my writing seems off, I'm not feeling well with my English Class's grade being like a noose around my neck. I hope you enjoy this chapter. If I'm writing horribly, someone tell me.**

**It's a little bit short. I apologize.**

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Chapter 02

"Bakura, we're going shopping for groceries," Ryou called out to the other, who was lying on the couch channel surfing.. What else would the ex-spirit of the ring do on a Saturday?

Marik and Yugi needed the trip, even though it was just a simple trip to the store. Yugi was crying all night about how much of a jerk Yami could be, while Marik was trying to calm him down. The Egyptian lacked social skills however, since he was trapped in a tomb for most of his life, so his attempts actually made things worse. Ryou had to suggest that they go to the grocery store, as he lacked the foods that the others actually liked, and he also needed to buy more meat since Bakura and Akefia loved their beef to death.

"Whatever," Bakura answered, and then he was switched with the child instantly, since Kefie wanted to wave good-bye to the others before they left. The other didn't stop there as he grabbed the remote, and changed the channel to Malik's favorite, filled with cliché, gorey, horror movies.

"Huh, this is actually pretty good," Bakura said to the little boy as he sat next to Kefie. It wasn't really sitting, since he was a spirit without a physical form when not taking control of the small body, but Bakura felt more comfortable with pretending to sit down than to float around the other.

"Malik showed me this," Akefia said, using Malik's actual name for once. Bakura didn't notice it at first, but then the Spirit of the Ring had the realization that Kefie actually pronounced the name perfectly fine.

"You just said Malik," the other said, backing away from Akefia. "Since when could you pronounce his name? I thought you said that it was too hard to say that name."

"No, it's really easy!" Kefie said as he looked at the other. He smiled innocently, but Bakura saw past the sweetness and realize that the other probably did have a little bit in common with him, though he constantly denied it whenever Ryou brought it up. "I say Mama, 'cause it's funny!"

"Okay, then…Can you pronounce Marik?" Bakura asked.

The other nodded.

"Yami?"

Another nod came from the young boy.

"How about Ryou?"

"R-Ryuuuu?" Akefia said in a shaky tone. He shook his head. "Too hard, Bakura."

"Of course his name is too hard for you to pronounce, and yet you can pronounce Marik and Malik, just fine even though they sound alike," Bakura said with crossed arms. He sighed as he noticed that the other actually pronounced his name, rather than calling him names or Kura. He tried to focus on the movie to get that internal frustration, but then the door bell rang.

Taking over Akefia's body, Bakura walked over to the door. He jumped up to try and see who was on the other side, but he was short. He would have just gotten fed up with the whole thing and went back to watch the movie, but the person kept ringing the door bell over and over, until Bakura's head felt like it was going to implode with anger. He grabbed the handle of the door and unlocked it, to be only smacked in the face with the door.

"Marik! Where are you?" the familiar, psychotic voice called out as he entered the house. Though it was rare to see the two together without a Hikari present, Yami had followed him inside as well, since he was curious about how Yugi didn't return home the night before.

"He's not here!" Bakura shouted, rubbing his face. He was lucky that his nose wasn't broken from the impact, but he had to suffer with the blood dripping from it. He covered his face and went into the kitchen for a napkin to wipe his nose with.

"Where is he? Are you hiding him from me, Bakura?" Malik asked as he went into the kitchen.

Yami simply looked around for Yugi in the oddest places, such as under the couch and in the cupboards. Of course, he still had enough sense to look into places that Yugi would actually fit in, but when that failed, he started to get desperate.

"Of course not," Bakura answered as he finished wiping his nose. "He's shopping with Ryou in some grocery store. You actually just missed him."

"Come on, Pharaoh. Let's go get them," Malik said as he stopped the other's search, which was getting stranger by the second. Bakura shook his head with a smile and a soft chuckle. This caused the psycho to turn around to look at the short, white haired boy. "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, nothing. Go on your fruitless journey to find your Hikaris," the ex-Spirit of the Ring replied as he went into the living room to continue watching that horror movie. He frowned as he noticed that one of the characters had exploded for no apparent reason. Of course, there could have been a reason, but he probably missed it while he was getting the door.

"What do you suggest we do then?" Yami asked, annoyed with the other. He didn't like how Bakura acted all high and mighty, but he didn't say anything as he also had an ego. He was just happy that their egos couldn't possibly even match Kaiba's, even when they were added together.

"Since they stayed over here last night, why don't you just stay here until they get back?" Bakura asked, before he laughed at how a woman's body was being stabbed by her cousin. He never removed his eyes from the screen.

"That sounds like a great idea," Malik said with a smirk, as he was itching to duel Bakura into another Shadow Realm. This could kill two birds with one stone, but then Kefie had taken over and hugged him.

"Mama's going to play with me?" Akefia asked innocently as he clung onto the shirt that Malik was wearing. He was standing on the couch, just so he could match the other's height. Malik tried to get Kefie off him by stepping away from the furniture to make the young boy lose his footing, but the other was just as persistent as Bakura and stayed attached to Malik's shirt. Yami smiled silently at this, and helped Malik get Akefia off his shirt.

Malik wanted to say no to the young boy, but he stared at them with those warm, chocolaty-colored eyes. It made him melt into the palms of Akefia's hands. He nodded, giving the other the reply that he had been waiting for.

Yami sighed and closed the front door that was still ajar from Malik's burst-in. If Akefia didn't prove that he was a separate identity from Bakura, then the Pharaoh would accuse the ex-Spirit of the Ring of brainwashing Malik.

"Kefie isn't as manipulating as the Spirit of the Ring," Yami would tell himself under his breath. In the back of his mind, the memory of Bakura's explanation about how Akefia was merely the part of his soul that was extracted during the ritual replayed. If Kefie was a part of Bakura, then he could be considered as evil as the Spirit of the Ring, but Yami wouldn't believe that this boy with a mind that matched his body would ever be like that. "He's only 4. Remember that."

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When Ryou came back with the others, the sun was setting. Bakura looked out of the window to see the three walk up to the front door, while Malik and Yami were busy with a poker game. Silently, the short boy was glad that it wasn't a strip poker game. He did not need to see what was under either of the two's clothes.

The door bell rung, and Malik went for the door right away. He swung the door wide open, surprising Marik. It wasn't even a good surprise. The other backed away as if he had saw a ghost and grabbed Yugi's arm, as he knew that Yami had a high possibility of being with Malik inside of Ryou's house.

"Who let you in?" Ryou asked, not pleased at all by the surprise. He was certainly more calm the other two, but coming home to see Malik's face was not what he was expecting. He was looking forward to a hug from the young boy that he was actually happy to share a house with.

"Bakura let me in, of course," the other answered the snowy-white haired boy. He shoved Ryou off to the side so he could get to Marik, which wasn't the brightest of ideas, as there was an evil aura around the Brit. "What's wrong with you?"

"Get out of my house," Ryou demanded. "I don't need any more drama in my house. Come back in a week or so."

Malik laughed. He wasn't simply going to comply with Ryou's demand. The Egyptain was stronger than Ryou would ever be physically, and frankly, Ryou wasn't threatening at all. Unfortunately, due to his underestimation of Ryou, he found himself locked outside of the house. It was true that the shorter boy had less brawn than Malik, but Ryou was more brains than brawn to begin with. The Brit had taken Marik and Yugi inside along with the bags of groceries. He locked the door, leaving Malik outside on the front porch.

"Hey! Let me in," Malik shouted out, but Ryou pretended not to hear the other's protests.

"Do I have to leave too?" Yami asked as he pointed at himself, blinking. He didn't expect this type of reaction out of Ryou.

"As long as you don't bother Yugi and Marik," Ryou said as he carried the bags with the eggs and milk gently. He motioned for the other two to grab the bags that were on the ground. Placing the groceries on the counter, Ryou turned around to the others and smiled sweetly.

"What do you want for dinner?" Ryou asked.

Bakura stared at the boy that used to be his host. Though he had spent his time with Ryou for years, it really seemed that he did not know anything about the boy at all. He decided to take the time that he was stuck in Akefia's small body to analyze Ryou's behavior some more.

Marik looked at Ryou as if he was crazy. He couldn't get his mind off of how his other half was on the other side of the door, banging so hard that some would think the door would break under pressure. Yugi was also too uncomfortable to reply, as Yami was staring intently at him. Ryou noticed this and shrugged. He was happy that the other two were being quiet for once. He commenced working on the dinner.

"Come on, someone just let me in!" Malik shouted out. Bakura was tempted to do that to see how Marik would react, but at the same time, he didn't want to do anything like that since Ryou was the one that was making his dinner. "Bakura! Hell, even Yami, let me in!"

No one answered. There was no talking amongst the four that were all staring at the front door. Ryou was too busy focusing on dinner for his guests and Akefia. Soon, not even the sound of Malik pounding the door was heard. A couple minutes past in an awkward silence before Bakura had switched with Akefia.

"Mama, I'll let you inside," Kefie declared as he ran over to the door before Ryou could protest. He unlocked the door and opened it to see that there was no Malik on the other side. "Mama?"

"Kefie, please close the door," Ryou said nicely to the small child. "You're letting in a draft."

Ryou was telling the truth, since the spring air was creeping into house from the opened entrance. But Akefia hesitated, looking around for the psychotic man that was usually his baby sitter. He went over to the bushes to check for the other, but he wasn't there. There was no evidence that Malik was even there. Kefie frowned and turned around as a shiver ran up his spine. He needed to get out of the chilly February air.

When the little boy went in, Malik popped out of nowhere and rushed in before Ryou could shut him out. He smiled in satisfaction as he noted that he scared Kefie really badly. The little boy had his eyes wide open and looked like he was going to get a heart attack. His mouth was gaping like a fish.

"Didn't I tell you to get out of my house?" Ryou asked.

"I did," the other said with an evil smirk. "And then I came back in."

Ryou looked at the other and shook his head. He got more ingredients so he had enough to feed Malik, as he was not be leaving the house anytime soon. He only hoped the other would

"Why did you throw a bottle at me?" Malik asked as he clung onto his other half. "You could have killed me with that."

"You wouldn't have died," Marik stated as he tried to weasel his way out of Malik's clutches. He hissed as if his skin was hurting from being in contact with his other half. Bakura shook his head lightly at this action, as it made Marik seem like a kitty.

"But it still hurt," the other would whine, even though honestly he didn't care for the fact that it did indeed hurt him. He cared more about the reason Marik found it necessary to toss objects toward his direction. He wasn't happy to find that the other chose to ignore him.

Yami wasn't having any more luck than Marik did.

Akefia looked at the two, and decided to make a move to clear this awkward silence by hanging onto Marik's shirt. He tugged hard so that Malik would remove his attention from Marik and place it on the youngster. Kefie opened his arms and made a motion that told the other that the boy wanted to be picked up.

"Aren't you a little too old for that?" Malik asked, but he was answered with a pout. He sighed and picked up the little kid into his arms.

"But Mama is so tall," Kefie said brightly, cheering up the other slightly. Ryou looked at Kefie, at the sound of his voice, and found a smile coming onto his face. Even though he didn't find the other's company pleasurable in any shape or form, Kefie did. He found himself glad that he didn't kick the other out again, even if it meant that he would hear complaints from Marik later on.

"Tell me what's wrong," Yami said, getting too close for Yugi's comfort. He was still persistently bothering the other for an explanation to the sudden change of attitude. Ryou was about to intervene, but Yugi's defense fell apart first.

"Do you even know what day it is?" Yugi asked, trying to avoid any and all eye contact. He wished that the bitterness wasn't showing in his voice as he waited for the other to reply.

"A Thursday?" the other asked, not understanding the point of the question. The reason simply slipped over his head. Yugi sighed out of frustration. He wanted to yell at the other, but he was Yugi, not Marik. He wasn't supposed to selfishly want Yami to remember one special day. He was supposed to forgive him, so he simply stormed to the bathroom to get a nice cold splash of water.

Ryou shook his head at Yami.

"What?" the Pharaoh would ask, but he would have no response from the others. He didn't even get a comment from Malik, who had no clue what Yugi was talking about either.

"Just,... don't talk Pharaoh," Bakura suggested. "That would sure to improve your relationship with that ex-vessel of yours since you don't think before you talk."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is late by a day. I was busy with school life and everything. This is not beta'd, because I didn't want to bother my beta about it.**

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Chapter Three

"So how long are they going to stay here?" Bakura grumbled, looking at the two Yamis that were sleeping in the living room. The other two unwanted guests were in the room that was supposed to be Akefia's. Bakura didn't like the lack of privacy. He slightly remembered that he didn't give Ryou much privacy either, but that was different.

"Until the end of the month," Ryou answered, making breakfast. It was a Sunday and the others were sleeping in like they would do at their own home.

"Wasn't that just what those two said, because they wanted to avoid their Yamis?" Bakura asked, grumbling. This was the only time he had some time to himself without Akefia bothering him.

"Well, I'm not going to kick them out just, because you want them to leave," Ryou said as he flipped a pancake. "I don't like them here either. It was better when we were living together alone."

"Just the two of us?" Bakura asked with a soft blush on his face.

"Yeah," the other said, not looking at the other. "Just the two of us and Kefie."

"Oh."

Bakura slouched in disappointment. He shook his head to snap himself out of his thoughts. He reasoned that the only reason why he felt this way was because of how he was stuck in Kefie's body that was deeply attached to Ryou.

"You alright?" Ryou asked as he placed the plate full of pancakes in front of Bakura. "You don't look so well."

"Well, I'd feel better if I send the two to the Shadow Realm," Bakura grumbled. Ryou gave him that disapproving look and left it at that. "I won't do it."

"After this let's take a bath," Ryou said as he placed the pan in the sick. "So that way Marik doesn't use up all of the hot water."

"A bath? Wait you mean together?" Bakura asked, looking at Ryou.

"I need to conserve water since those four are going to raise my electricity and water bill through the roof," the other said as he shrugged. He looked at Bakura and noticed the soft blush that was spreading across the little boy's face. "Do you have a fever?"

"No, I just-"

Marik walked in with his hair in a mess and a yawn. He looked at the two and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you two doing?" Marik asked a he went over to a plate of pancakes. "Pancakes! This is great, Ryou."

He began stuffing himself with the food and Ryou only sighed.

"So when are you guys leaving?" Bakura asked, regaining his composure. "Soon I hope."

"Well if I go home now, I'll have to deal with Malik alone and my sister telling me she told me so," Marik replied, dismissing the idea. "I'm not leaving until Malik apologizes."

Bakura sighed deeply. He decided that he was going to play a little match maker since that was the only way that he was going to get the others out. He took Ryou's hand and brought him to the bathroom.

"I have an idea," Bakura stated.

"If it has anything to do with sending people to the Shadow Realm-" Ryou said, but he was interrupted with Bakura throwing his hands up.

"You think everyone of my plans include the Shadow Realm!" Bakura shouted. "It has nothing to do with the Shadow Realm."

Ryou raised his eyebrow. He decided that he might as well listen since it didn't have to do with Shadow Games or Shadow Realms. Ryou didn't like those things at all. He thought that Bakura was a huge gambler since he liked to risk his life so much.

"Okay, this is a plan to get them back together so they get out of our lives."

"So you're going to play cupid?" Ryou asked. "What do you even know about love?"

Bakura was going to say something, but the Hikari was right. He didn't know anything about love. He was focused on revenge for all these years that he didn't allow himself to feel anything like it. Hell, Akefia would know more about love than he did, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

"Well, I don't know anything about love," Bakura said and smiled. "But I do know Malik and Marik."

"What are we going to do about Yugi and Yami?" Ryou asked, making a face. He wasn't sure whether he should listen to Bakura, but he supposed that it wouldn't hurt. "Yugi is very upset at Yami about the whole anniversary thing."

"Can we please work one couple at a time?" the other asked.

* * *

"Marik, can I talk to you?" Ryou asked as he dragged the other out of the house into the porch.

The other stared at Ryou with a raised eyebrow. He was glad that Ryou did that since he didn't want to stick around in the house with Malik trying to hit on him any longer. It wasn't attractive and Malik still didn't apologize to Marik.

"I want to help you get back together with Malik," Ryou said.

"What makes you think that I want to get back together with him?" Marik asked as he frowned. "That idiot probably doesn't even see me as a lover. He probably thinks of me as a sex object or something like that."

"Oh, well you're jealous of how he was looking at that girl right?" Ryou asked, trying to calm down Marik that seemed to get more and more riled up as they talked about the other Egyptian. "Well, wouldn't it be sweet if you get a payback for making you feel that way?"

"Payback? That sounds nice," the other replied with a grin upon his face.

"What are those two doing?" Malik asked, curious.

"Mama!" Kefie shouted out, clinging to Malik's leg. According to Bakura's plan, Akefia was distracting the others very well.

"What do you want, Kefie?"

"Well, are Ry and Ma dating?" Akefia asked, tilting his head cutely. "They spend a lot of time together."

"What? No, of course not," Malik said, looking at the door. He knew that Akefia shouldn't know anything really. He was only a little boy. But for some reason, there was a rage boiling in Malik's chest. "Marik is mine."

"But they look cute together!" Kefie exclaimed. "And Ma looks so happy. Why Mama so angry? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong," Malik said as he picked up Kefie. "You're getting heavier. Is Bakura making you fat?"

"I am not!" Bakura shouted. "Kefie eats more than I do."

"Oh there you are," Malik said poking the other's stomach. Bakura was very tempted to bite off Malik's finger, but he needed to continue with the plan. "Tell me. Is there anything going on with Ryou and Marik, like Akefia thinks?"

Bakura wanted to laugh. Malik expected him to tell him the truth?

"Oh, I don't know," Bakura said with a smile. "Marik seems ready to leave you for good."

"Take that back," Malik said with a growl.

"Well, you're not exactly trying very hard to get Marik back, are you?"

"What do you mean?" Malik asked, not understanding what the other was saying. He did try to get Marik back. Normally if he teased Marik enough, he would be running back into Malik arms. He shouldn't be here, wondering if Marik had fallen for someone else. He didn't want to admit it, but he was jealous.

"Well all that flirting isn't going anywhere," Bakura said. "Why don't you try doing something he likes? I don't know, like a date or something? He doesn't seem to think that you love him very much."

"I do love him," Malik growled out.

"Oh, and you express it with sex then?" the other asked. He shook his head at Malik. The other had no idea what was going on Marik's head. He understood that this would happen often in those dramas he saw on TV, where the man had no idea what was going on a woman's head, but the two were men. Bakura paused in his thoughts. Marik was too girly to be considered a man right now, so Bakura found himself pitying Malik.

"What are you suggesting that I do then?" Malik growled out.

"I don't know, ask him on a date?" Bakura asked. "Do you even know him outside his body?"

"Of course," Malik said. Why would Bakura ask that? Malik knew a lot of things about Marik. He was basically Marik since he was born out of Marik's suffering. But as minutes passed, Malik found that he didn't really know what was going on Marik's head. It was really bad if even he couldn't figure that out. "Fine, help me."

Bakura smiled as this was easier than he originally thought.

* * *

**A/N: I know this chapter is short. I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep up with everything and keep up with my weekly updates, though I tend to be off a day sometimes.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have decided to move the update date to Sundays or Monday (comment for which day you would prefer) due to the large amount of work that I have at school. I would hate to say that I would update on Friday when I won't have the time to send the chapter to my beta on Thursday considering the amount of teachers that enjoy the idea of Friday Tests/Quizzes.**

* * *

Chapter 04

"Are you sure that this is going to work, Fluffy?" Malik asked the young little thief. Bakura didn't enjoy the nickname, but he decided to save his complaints after he managed to get the two Egyptians together before they cause him to lose hair. It wouldn't be ideal to have Akefia be bald before he even reached Middle School.

"I'm sure, I'm sure," Bakura said, trying to convinced Malik with empty words. He didn't really care much for the other. In fact, if he had the choice they would be countries away from each other.

"Okay," Malik said, even though he was still not sure. He didn't like the idea of taking anyone on a date. He wasn't very capable of being tender or sweet at all. He was born out of the darkness and hate after all. He shouldn't need to be going on a date with his counterpart. The whole dating idea was, because Marik didn't want to forgive the other. It was basically a round about way of begging for forgiveness in Malik eyes.

Marik was busy talking to Ryou and Yugi on the couch. They had managed to get Yami to fetch them drinks. The Pharaoh was truly desperate to get his partner's forgiveness, but Yugi wasn't ready to forgive him just yet. It wasn't really Yugi that was ordering Yami around, but Marik. He did enjoy this sort of thing. He didn't have the Millennium Rod anymore so he was making up for the lack of control he had over people by making Yami fetch like a dog.

Malik approached Marik by hugging his neck. It was supposed to be sweet, but he was practically strangling Marik. Luckily, Ryou managed to get Malik to stop before Marik could pass out from the lack of air.

"What do you want?" Marik asked the other, rubbing his neck. He kept his distance from the other and stared straight at Malik's face.

"Well, do you want to go on a..." Malik trailed off. He didn't wanted to say that blasted word. "A date...to the amusement park or something?"

"What?"

The three Hikari looked over at Malik and wondered if he was feeling okay. Marik even went as far as to put his hand on Malik's forehead to test his temperature.  
"I don't have a fever," Malik said, trying to keep his poker face. "I'm serious. Do you want to? This weekend?"

"This weekend? But I am already going to there with Ryou and..."

Malik stopped listening after that. His mind went back to what Akefia had told him earlier when Marik had stepped out to talk with Ryou about something. Then his train of thought brought him to what Bakura said about his relationship with his partner. He left the room with not another word, right in the middle of Marik's excuse about why he couldn't go on a date that weekend.

"Well, that went well," Bakura said, chuckling.

"What?" Marik asked, looking down at the short, white haired boy. "What are you going on about Fluffy?"

"My name is not Fluffy!" Bakura shouted.

* * *

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

Again, someone doubted Bakura's plan. Ryou had reason to doubt the other though, with all the times his plans had failed.

"I told you to trust me," Bakura said as he grumbled. "So you Hikari's go to the amusement park and I expect Malik to follow you. All you have to do is hint that you're in a relationship with Marik, but don't do it too much or Malik might try to send you to the Shadow Realm or something."

"Wait! What was the last part?"

"Nothing," Bakura said looking away, pretending to focus on the senseless cartoons on the TV screen. Ryou wasn't stupid though. He knew exactly what Bakura said. Currently Marik was taking forever to get ready, even with Yugi's help.

"You didn't tell me this part of the plan," Ryou complained. "I don't want Malik to try to stab me at every turn."

"Well, there is a possibility of Malik kidnapping Marik on your little found outing," Bakura said, shrugging. "Just call me if he's trying to kill you. I'll probably get Yami to pop in and save you. I swear, he has some hero complex for his friends."

"What about you?" Ryou asked, slightly hurt that his Yami didn't seem to care what happened to him now that they had separate bodies. Bakura looked at Ryou and felt like he just ripped up a Change of Heart in front of his host.

"Ryou! I'm ready," Marik said, dragging Yugi behind him. "Let's go."

"Are you sure it's okay to leave Bakura alone with Yami and Malik?" Yugi asked, slightly worried. Yami didn't wake up yet so Bakura would have to deal with Malik alone and Yugi felt that Malik wasn't being himself lately. His normal psychotic vibe came back.

"It'll be fine," Ryou said, looking at Bakura, who acted as if he didn't care. "If we can leave Akefia alone with them, then we can leave Bakura alone with them. Let's just go."

Once the three left, Malik was trying to sneak to the door without Bakura noticing.

"What are you doing?" Kefie asked, looking at Malik. He pouted gently, staring at the other with big, round eyes. "Mama, you look more creepy than usual."

"I'm just going to go to the amusement park," Malik said, leaving out the gory details from the other. He still smiled at the thought of what he could do to get Marik's attention again. Akefia ignore the creepy grin and ran towards Malik.

"The amusement park? Take me with you!" Akefia exclaimed, jumping up and down. Bakura wanted to hit himself on the head when Akefia did this, because he forgot all about the other person that shared the body with him. It should be hard to forget the 4-year-old that repeatedly takes over whenever he feels like it, but somehow Bakura managed to.

"No, I'm going by myself," Malik said, shoving Akefia away. He wasn't going to fall for the little boy's tricks. He had a mission to do. He needed to get it done without a little boy distracting him from his target every 5 minutes or less.

"B-but why?" Kefie asked. "That sounds lonely and sad."

"Well! I was going to go with Marik, but he decided to go with the creampuff instead," Malik said with a growl.

"And Yuyu," Kefie pointed out. "Are you jealous?"

"Jealous? Of course not."

"I think Mama is jealous!" Akefia exclaimed.

Malik sighed as this conversation wasn't getting him anywhere and now his target was out of sight. He opened the door and walked toward the direction of the amusement park. He closed the door and thought that he closed Kefie inside. What he didn't know was that Akefia was clinging onto his purple cape.

"Wow, Ryou," Marik said, looking at the giant teddy bear that he was carrying. "Did you really need to win that? You already have Fluffy."

"I didn't win this," Ryou said, sighing. He was carrying it for Yugi that had won it off a game. The person declared that the short boy cheated and explained to the public of how his game was actually rigged so that no one could win, but of course when he did that he lost a lot of business. Yugi simply took the bear and left with Ryou before the person could challenge him to a children's card game.

They did all of that while Marik was apparently distracted by cotton candy or candy floss, if you were British like Ryou. Marik didn't understand how it could be called candy floss, it made more sense for him that it was called cotton candy, but he decided that it tasted good so it didn't matter what its name was. He didn't even care how they made it. He decided to think of it as magic and leave it at that.

"You really never had cotton candy before?" Yugi asked, getting some as well.

"Well I've been living underground most of my life, Yugi," Marik said as he let the pink fluff melt in his mouth. "I never even had been to an amusement park before."

"You never came here with Malik before?" Ryou asked.

"Well, he doesn't like dates and he doesn't even know what an amusement park is other than some bad horror movies with carnivals," Marik explained. "Normally, the most romantic thing he would ever do with me is fuck me into the-"

"Marik! There's children here!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Oh right, sorry," Marik said, rolling his eyes.

Malik was trailing behind them, trying to get out of sight. He stared at the pink fluffy thing in Marik's hand and wondered how a person could possibly eat that sort of thing. He spent a couple minutes thinking about something trivial as that, that he didn't notice that Akefia had ran off over to some stranger that was offering him some sweets.

"Kefie," Malik said, finally noticing Akefia. He saw the stranger and ran over to Akefia, pretending to accidently knocking out the sweet out of Akefia's hand. "Opps. Don't worry, Kefie, I'll buy you something."

"Hey," Bakura said, looking at Malik. "Aren't you supposed to go follow Marik or something?"

Malik growled, not expecting to be greeted by Bakura. The stranger ran off in some other direction, saying something about Malik's glowing third eye that seems to randomly appear now on his forehead. Bakura looked at the stranger and shook his head.

"I was going to send that guy to the Shadow Realm," Bakura said, jokingly. He looked at Malik. "What? Kefie is the one that followed you. Oh, and don't look now but your Hikari is going into a Ferris wheel."

"A what now?" Malik asked, looking for Marik. "What is that?"

"One of the more romantic rides in the whole area," Bakura explained with a smirk. He loved how easily it could be to read Malik when Marik was involved. Usually Malik would have the same expression unless something funny happened and he would laugh up a storm until it wasn't funny anymore. "Ryou told me that there's some legend that if a couple kisses up at the top, they would be together forever or something silly like that. Just a bunch of school girl talk, right, Mallk? Malik?"

Malik had already made his way to the Hikari's. Bakura went after him to prevent him from doing something stupid, but he had short legs. Malik had already reached Marik and dragged him away from the Ferries wheel.

"Oh don't do anything stupid, don't do anything stupid," Bakura said running over.

* * *

"Huh…Where did everyone go?" Yami asked, not realizing that he was talking to himself. He was so used to the idea of sharing a body with Yugi. Sometimes he wondered if he should have taken his life and joined his father in the world beyond. He didn't because of Yugi. It was hard to resist the other.

The boy was always looking out for other people and because of that he would be led into trouble. Yami needed to help Yugi when things gotten past a children's card game. No matter what dangers he was put in, Yugi never seemed to be angry. Yami must have messed up really badly to make him angry enough to push him away.

He sighed at the idea and looked at the calendar.

"Oh, it's…Oh! Oh!" Yami exclaimed, finally noticing what his partner was so angry about. The one thing that Yugi cared about more than Christmas or children card games, it was their anniversary that Yami missed. There were two types of anniversaries that they celebrated together. There was the anniversary of their relationship and the anniversary of the day that they met. He noticed that he missed both when he looked at the year. No wonder Yugi was so upset.

Yami hit his head. He needed to check the calendar more often.


End file.
